Call of Duty is dead! Yes, you heard me right, the franchise is dead and Microsoft killed it! Once great video game franchise that offered some of the best first-person shooter action and Great storytelling has now been reduced to shitty games that we shouldn’t care about. Over 22 years, yes there have been some duds. There have been some Call of Duty games that weren’t very good but didn’t necessarily kill the franchise. Even when Activision gave us Black Ops 4 as a strictly online multiplayer game with no campaign, It wasn’t the end, just a downturn in a company wanting to put out content every year. However, they did come back with some great games and actually returned to World War II stories. The World War II game that came out in 2017 and Vanguard which came out in 2021 are some of my favorites of the franchise. Every great video game franchise has some subpar games and storylines, it happens, but that doesn’t mean that they’re so bad that it kills the franchise.
Sometimes it has to be rebooted for newer consoles like Tomb Raider, but at least gamers are treated to good storytelling or at the very least, average storytelling that still makes the game fun. But I’m calling it right here, Call of Duty is fucking dead! Black Ops 7 is the latest in shitty storytelling and features that most fans don’t want. We’ll get to that in a moment. Microsoft should have been the savior of Activision, but I guess it’s status quo when it comes to teams putting out terrible content or trying to reboot some of their better games like in the Modern War Franchise. My biggest gripe with video games is when it’s a bad story and development teams don’t seem to care about making a great story. Sometimes they’re rushed and they have to get the content out so they do what they can, which is not a good excuse. Sometimes development teams just write shitty stories and think the gameplay can cover it up. When the game play sucks and the story sucks then you just have a turd of a video game, and it should be a war crime to release a bad game and expect gamers to pay full price. Of course, Microsoft can make the excuse that You don’t necessarily have to buy the game, because it’s a “day one” game on Game Pass, but what if you refuse to pay for Game Pass anymore because the subscription service has gotten too expensive with not enough good games compared to Sony’s PlayStation Plus catalog that has better exclusives. So you’re stuck paying for a Call of Duty game at full price that sucks.
Right now, Black Ops 7 is the lowest rated Call of Duty game and that is an incredible feat considering there have been some bad games in the franchise. Black Ops 3 was a shitty game except for the zombie Chronicles. It had a terrible storyline that was convoluted, but offered the most innovative best zombie maps with the expanded zombie Chronicles mode. Thanks that’s all the gamers really good for. There have certainly been some games which are underrated, but even in the early days Call of Duty when they found success with the first and the second games, Activision rushed other versions that weren’t well received like “The Big Red One.” But this game is just bad. It’s like Activision to stop that they had already developed, added some new colors and a couple of new modes and tried to pass it off as a cool and unique game. Well, if you’ve been playing Call of Duty for 20 years then you’re not going to be fooled by this. While this article is not so much a review on Black Ops 7, I will at least tell you about the biggest problems with the game. Not only is the storyline convoluted and really just trying to wrap up story lines from the Black Ops franchise that make no sense, there’s no solo campaign. You are forced into a squad of four by a bunch of random gamers to complete the storyline if you can’t find four friends to play the campaign. That’s bullshit!
One of the greatest things about Call of Duty is that you could play the story campaign by yourself, and you didn’t have to do any multiplayer modes. Some gamers just like to play the solo campaign by themselves. The zombie mode is so convoluted that it can’t decide if you are fighting off zombies, aliens from space, or demons as if you’re playing a Saints Row game. With all the tasks that you have to complete, it doesn’t feel like a typical zombie game where you’re fending off waves and expanding the map so much as they’re trying to make a new open world zombie game, which is fine because that mode was interesting and I admit, a lot of fun. Decide what you’re trying to do. The multiplayer mode feels two familiar. There’s nothing you need about the maps. It’s like Activision took old maps put some new colors on them and tried to pass them off his new.
No, just because you get a new paint job doesn’t make it new. And probably the worst thing about this game is you have to strictly be online. There’s no “local play” mode. This is particularly bad because sometimes gamers don’t want to have to be online and deal with a toxic Call of Duty community. Sometimes it’s just as fun doing a private party or playing against bots. Either way, they took the choice away and I’m not against games strictly being online. Fortnite is one of the biggest games in the world with different modes, but when you play Fortnite, you know specifically you’re going to be online all the time.
The Call of Duty franchise may be dead, but I believe it can be revived. However, to save this once great franchise, Microsoft and Activision have to swallow their pride, quit acting like they know best, and listen to the gamers. Here’s how you save the franchise for what it’s worth!!!
First: Get Back to Great Storytelling!
There have been a lot of great stories in Call of Duty even beyond World War II. I know it’s been easy to return to the World War II time period. WWII which came out in 2017 was a return to form. It was almost like playing Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan with the game starting with the invasion of Normandy. I’m not saying it it’s the best World War II game in the COD franchise, but it was nice to get back to that time period. Vanguard is a great story. It never got the recognition it deserves. Not only was it a World War II story, but you get the beginnings of special forces groups that we will eventually see in the Modern Warfare games. Just like the CIA started with OSS during the war, this is the beginning of international special forces groups like Task Force 141 or the Ghost Program. We need a sequel to this game and what better story than a special forces group hunting down Nazis who escaped Europe. And if you want an alternate timeline where Adolf Hitler survived and was hiding out in Argentina, what a fun story if would be if the Vanguard group stopped the Fourth Reich from ever becoming a thing and then eventually killing Hitler. If the Wolfenstein games proved anything, killing Nazis makes for a fun video game. This is a storyline that could be a great trilogy just like the first three Modern Warfare games.
We also deserve a sequel or two of Ghosts. I don’t care what anybody says, this was one of the better storylines in the Call of Duty franchise. Not only did it give you aspects of Modern Warfare, but also Black Ops. You had a great storyline of a dystopian future where the Ghost program hunt drown those responsible for the destruction of the United States and a continuing story could be how they brought this country back. It’s a far better storyline than the last two Black Ops games and a better storyline than the futuristic one of Black Ops 3. And if we are going to get to futuristic storylines, Advanced Warfare was one of the more interesting Call of Duty games. I know it wasn’t well received even with Kevin Spacey being the main antagonist in the game, but now it’s a little bit timely when it comes to the rise of billion-dollar corporations that seem to control politics. Activision can totally do a sequel where out of the remnants of the Atlas corporation come something else in more diabolical. This is where I think you can have storylines of super soldiers and Call of duty’s own Eugenic Wars taking a page from Star Trek storylines. Billion-dollar corporations will never go away any more than the idea of a super soldier program or a master race. No matter how many times we defeat dictators who want to control the world, somebody else will rise up and take their place. Personally, I would love to play a Call of Duty game or the characters from Advanced Warfare are like a United Nations special forces coalition who’s sole purpose is to take down these would be dictators and heir to the Super Soldier program wild restoring freedom and democracy.
However, if the Call of Duty franchise wanted to be bold then the reoccurring theme of fighting for freedom and democracy should play out in a new American civil War where one party has risen up and formed a fascist regime and now your main protagonists lead a resistance where they have to take back major cities one by one restoring America to her former glory. Is it too political because of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, sure, but who cares because the real enemy is those that go against freedom in democracy and whether you lean right or left on the political spectrum, we can all get behind fighting against a fascist regime. Some may think it could never happen to America, but I think we’ve seen over the last 10 years that it can. And even if these kinds of games are too similar to the Tom Clancy Division games by Ubisoft…who cares, it doesn’t exactly have to be unique because gaming developers are like movie studios where they copy each other’s successful formulas. I’m not saying it exactly has to be like those games where it’s strictly and online multiplayer, but there are great storylines that can be developed. You can literally call it Call of Duty Resistance or Call of Duty Revolutions. Either way this idea has the makings
We don’t need a reboot of the Modern Warfare games, but we can have something like it with a brand-new storyline and protagonists that even have callbacks to former characters. Again, it may not be very politically correct, and some people may be upset that the idea, but those who would be against an ultra fascist group taking over America are the real problem. How would it not be a great franchise where gamers must restore America and the values of freedom and democracy. There will be no greater symbol of victory than when we retake an American city, we raised the American flag on government buildings. This might be the most patriotic Call of Duty game ever. Not only do you have three to five games that can tell this overall story, but we get back to a Modern Warfare type of game in the Call of Duty franchise, and Activision gets to make something that competes with Ubisoft’s Division games. I love the division games, but the storytelling could be better, and this is where Call of Duty can make something better and reclaim its former glory as the best first-person shooter franchise.
These are just some of the storylines that Call of Duty can tackle that I know gamers would play and it would save the franchise. It’s time that Call of Duty introduce new characters that we could identify with. I like Captain Price, but the Modern Warfare franchise has to be done. The Black Ops franchise has to be done too. Good storytelling has always been the key to a successful Call of Duty game. That’s why game set during World War II were so successful. It’s often considered the most honorable war where the good guys definitely won. But there are central themes in those stories where you are fighting against fascism. You’re fighting for freedom in democracy and those themes play out across the various COD storylines.
Second: Make Call of Duty Like It Used to Be
If Activision and Microsoft truly want to save Call of Duty then get back to the basics. Don’t make your games solely online where you have to play with other gamers. Allow gamers to play the campaigns by themselves. Have multiplayer and zombie modes available offline. Call of Duty is not Fortnite. This franchise doesn’t need to adopt that model. You can still enjoy Call of Duty but not having to be on the internet or squad up with random gamers. The Call of Duty franchise has had a winning formula for 20 years And yes, games should evolve. I don’t have a problem with Call of Duty War Zone. It has its own fan base and that’s the closest you’re going to get to Fortnite. But having offline play is essential for Call of Duty to be successful. Lastly, if Activision wanted to take the Call of Duty franchise in a bold direction and although it might seem a cash grab, at least this idea would appeal to the fans. Take what you did with Black Ops 4 and make it strictly multiplayer and zombie modes, but combine every map from every game into one anniversary set.
They should put everything they’ve done since World at War into one big anniversary game. Just have one game that you can buy and charge full price for that contains every map from every game. Make it a remastered version for the next gen consoles. Make the gameplay better, make the graphics better, and take COD fans Back to what they loved to play. They’ve already done remastered versions of the first two Modern Warfare’s, and they were certainly fun to go back and play with better graphics. Do that for all the multiplayer and zombie maps / modes but in one game. I guarantee, that Call of Duty fans will be more willing to pay full price for that game than the turd known as COD Black Ops 7 There’s plenty of Call of Duty games that have great replay value, but even more so there’s a lot of great zombie maps and multiplayer maps that have tremendous replay value and every map in one game is definitely worth $80.
However, until Activision and Microsoft are willing to have better storylines and not regurgitate multiplayer maps and convoluted zombie modes then this franchise is dead. You can’t make a half-ass game with shitty multiplayer and zombie modes, put the name Call of Duty on there and expect fans to just be okay with it. That’s all Activision in Microsoft wants to do then Call of Duty is truly dead. So, I challenge Activision and Microsoft…be bold, listen to the fans about what they really want, and take pride in the development of your games like you once did. Microsoft has the perfect opportunity to make this franchise bigger and better like they once did by putting it on their systems nearly 25 years ago when they entered the console market. Microsoft can keep the legacy alive by listening to the fans on what they want from Call of Duty or kill it by being lazy gaming developers who think that as long as the brand name is on the box, it’s good enough. Even once great brand names die and quickly fade into memory. Hopefully in 20 years we’re not talking about the greatest first-person shooter franchise we used to love to play and how the company who owned it let it die with mediocrity.